Pete Shelley: Last News

Jimi Hendrix‘s penis is set to be unveiled at the Phallological Museum in Iceland next month.The cast, which was created by Cynthia Albritton in February 1968 while Hendrix was on tour in Chicago, will be revealed during a closed event at the museum’s premises in downtown Reykjavik in early June.Known as the “Plaster Caster”, Albritton, who also made penis moulds for Buzzcocks’ Pete Shelley and Dead Kennedys frontman Jello Biafra, donated the cast to the Icelandic institution shortly before her death in April.“It is with feelings of sadness and pride that The Phallological Museum announces that prior to passing, Cynthia ʹPlaster Casterʹ Albritton, decided to donate to the museum with one of a few casts of Jimi Hendrix,” the museum wrote yesterday (May 23) on Twitter.Hendrix phallus cast to The Icelandic Phallological Museum. It is with feelings of sadness and pride, that The Phallological Museum announces that prior to passing, Cynthia ʹPlaster Casterʹ Albritton, decided to donate to the museum with one of a few casts of Jimi Hendrix.— Phallological Museum (@Phallusmuseum) May 23, 2022Though Albritton never had him as a subject, Gene Simmons wrote a song called ‘Plaster Caster’ for KISS‘ 1977 album ‘Love Gun’, which included the lyrics: “The plaster’s gettin’ harder and my love is perfection/ A token of my love for her collection.”She held her first plaster cast exhibition in New York in 2000, and would go on to have work exhibited at MoMA PS1 years later.

Cynthia Albritton, better known as "Cynthia Plaster Caster" for the plaster casts she made of rock star private parts, died after what her representatives said was a long illness. She was 74. Although unconventional and a self-described "recovering groupie," Albritton evolved as an artist, expanding from music stars to film directors, eventually adding females.

Jimi Hendrix, Buzzcocks’ Pete Shelley, and Dead Kennedys frontman Jello Biafra.Born in Chicago in 1947, she attended art school in the 60s, where she was asked to create a plaster cast of “something solid that could retain its shape.” Instead of going for something typical, Albritton decided to turn her attention to the frontmen of her favourite bands.Jimi Hendrix was her first famous subject, having agreed to being cast while on tour in Chicago in 1968. Hendrix was followed by two members of MC5: Wayne Kramer, and drummer Dennis Thompson, though Kramer’s penis cast didn’t go to plan.“He got the container that wasn’t designed to mix alginates in,” she said in an interview with The Chicago Reader in 2002.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorCynthia Albritton, a.k.a. Cynthia Plaster Caster, the legendary artist and “recovering groupie” renowned for the plaster casts she took of many top musicians’ erect penises and other body parts, has died after a long illness, her rep confirms to Variety. She was 74.Her collection included Jimi Hendrix, Wayne Kramer of MC5, Pete Shelley of the Buzzcocks, Jello Biafra of the Dead Kennedys as well as female breasts from the likes of Laetitia Sadier of Stereolab, Sally Timms of the Mekons, Peaches, Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and many others.